Category Archives: Travel in Argentina

The moment I laid eyes on Ai Weiwei’s installation Forever Bicycles at the Fundación Proa in the La Boca neighborhood, I was captivated. I had to make a visit to see the entire exhibit “Inoculación” and learn about this contemporary Chinese artist and activist through his work and later through online videos and articles. A big fan of bicycles and bicycling, as well as using multiple representations of objects, I was instantly attracted to his art-making and also to his activism and how his activism IS his art.

The exhibit itself includes examples of his video work, installations, collaborative projects, wallpapers, and sculptures. In addition to Forever Bicycleswhich begs the viewer to take one’s own views of the playful structure as I did here:

The exhibit at Próa, entitled “Inoculación” is a good overview of some of his best know installations.

Bicycles Forever (a popular brand in China) was first exhibited in Taipei in 2003. Of it Weiwei said:

The bicycle is one of the few objects every household had when I was growing up I. China. Society then was very poor. To have a bike was a luxury. Forever bicycles were the best brand at the time. Every family had a Forever bicycle, it would be the most admirable for the rest of the children, they would even run after the bicycle.

Since I started doing architecture and teaching students how to build, I use the bicycle to teach them they can build with any material, not just bricks and concrete. (excerpt describing artwork on building exterior)

Each installation of Forever Bicycles is a unique design. The one used in Buenos Aires is composed of 1254 bicycles.

A second well-known installation on display here fills the entire floor of one gallery. It is known simply as Sunflower Seeds. The work contains more than 100 million individually handmade and handprinted porcelain sunflower seeds created by more than 1600 people living in Jingdezhan (the porcelain capital in China) over a two-and-a-half year period. The seeds are not only nourishing as well as a common street snack in China, but the Chinese people themselves have been called sunflowers who looked obediently at the sun (Mao’s way of referring to himself). Imagine: each seed is made and painted by hand! And each is unique.

Weiwei is definitely unique himself. The son of a well-known Revolutionary poet who was exiled to hard labor for 20 years during the Cultural Revolution, Weiwei left China to study art in the US, and returned there ten years later, once his father was restored to his rightful place as a respected poet, writer, and cultural icon.

Weiwei has spoken about many subjects and has been described as “pioneering in his art and fearless in his politics,” according to a 2005 BBC documentary (available on YouTube). One wall in the exhibit is filled with some of his sayings.

On freedom and liberty he says:

Freedom is our right to question everything.

To express oneself one needs a reason, but expression itself is the reason.

On art and being an artist:

Art has to do with aesthetics, with morality, with our belief in humanity. Without that, there is simply no art.

Being an artist is a mindset, a way of seeing things; it no longer has much to do with producing something.

On refugees and the crisis of immigration:

This problem has a long history, a human story. Somehow we all are refugees, somewhere at some time.

Nationality and borders are barriers to our intelligence, our imagination and all kinds of possibilities.

I especially enjoyed being able to take photos of the various installed works in the show, such as these two. The first is “Grapes” and uses centuries-old wooden stools reassembled by artisans into this sculpture:

The other more obviously explores one of Weiwei’s chosen themes or issues, this time immigration into a wallpaper of passengers’ luggage tags:

Weiwei doesn’t hold back. Banned by the Chinese government for the freedom of expression he has given voice to, Weiwei is sometimes brutally direct, as in this commentary not foreign to anyone in any language. Giving the finger is, well, giving the finger!

There are some powerful videos included in the exhibit. One shows Weiwei smashing a priceless Ming vase, commenting obviously on its past value and commenting on what he thinks about that value. A more powerful, sad video is one that tells the story of the 2010 art studio Weiwei received permission to build by the Shanghai government, only to be told (as it was being completed!) it was NOT permitted by the very same government who subsequently and swiftly demolished the architectural studio/classroom/exhibit space. Whether banished from the internet in China, put in prison and silenced, or creating and exhibiting his art in collaboration with the hundreds of workers he employs to assist in turning his conceptions into actual objects, Weiwei lets his art and his actions voice his deepest beliefs in freedom and human rights.

San Antonio de Areco, along the banks of the Areco River, is an easy day trip from the city of Buenos Aires. It is just 70 miles northwest by car, so visiting San Antonio is a pleasant way to trade the frenzy of the city for the laid-back atmosphere of the Argentine countryside and this lovely little town. Home to many estancias it is an easy place to get to, relax in and explore on foot to enjoy its natural and man-made beauty and treasures.

There are lots of places to see gauchos in Argentina. Among them is the lovely, laid back town of San Antonio de Areco, located 70 miles northwest of the city of Buenos Aires. You can pay an agency $150/US for a day trip there to a private estancia (ranch), where you will see ranchers at work, enjoy local music, eat an authentic asado (barbecue) and take a stroll around these private estancias.

Or, you can rent a car with a GPS and drive to the town yourself and have the freedom to wander as you like. That’s what we did when my sister Josephine and her friend Jane visited from Chicago in March. Estrella, a Uruguayan friend who lives in Buenos Aires, joined us for our “día del campo” road trip.

A 1-1/2hr. car ride brought us to the quiet, pretty central plaza where free parking was ample and a good starting point to enjoy the colonial architecture and relaxing atmosphere of the town. Among its highlights are the Museu Gauchesco and the Parque Ricardo Guiraldes, the Culture Centre Usina Vieja, the Town Museum and the Old Bridge.

A walk along the Puente Viejo (old bridge) takes you to the Gaucho Museum and the adjoining Pulperia de Blanqueada, once an old grocery store located alongside the museum, where in years past, the local gauchos shopped for their supplies. One part of the museum campus houses a local artesan who dyes wool with natural dyes, spins it herselfand makes beautiful blankets, carrying on the traditional methods that were followed during the 19th century. She enjoyed teaching us about the dyes, the weaving methods and the traditions carried down from her teacher’s teacher to her and so on.

Local artesans’ shops and cafes lined the old section of town. The town museum houses the newly initiated artesan’s cooperative where women artesans display and sell their crafts. A walk in the adjacent Ricardo Guiraldes Park, offers views of old farming equipment alongside flowering trees of the park, including a wide variety of birds from the La Pampa region, and huge cactus plants filled with the edible, deep red prickly pear fruit. We especially appreciated the colorful entrance to the city museum, webbed by interlocking, colored plastic cables and stays that appeared to form a sort of webbing that drew you inside.

A relaxed lunch at a parrilla restaurant along the river was the perfect spot to enjoy

an asado, drink a beverage or two and take in the local scenery before heading back to the car, and eventually back to the busy city of Buenos Aires. While we never really saw any gauchos, we certainly enjoyed the outdoor beauty of the town where many have lived and armed over the past centuries.

Noooo, not me. My blog. I’ve reached a milestone 25 posts on seebuenosaires.com since I started it five years ago. This post, #26, is really an index of the titles of each of my previous posts. I’ve written them to share my experiences, impressions and photos. Now in 2016 with almost 4,000 reader views I’m still finding new things I want to share. So far I’ve written about — well, go ahead, click, read, enjoy–and come visit to seebuenosaires for yourself!

One of the joys of escaping Chicago’s winter is that I can take morning walks everyday, January through June (unless it’s already too humid and hot by 10:00am here). Buenos Aires is a very walkable city. I prefer to avoid the busy streets and broken sidewalks wherever possible so I head directly towards greener spots in the Recoleta neighborhood. I’m including this map of the area so you can “follow” my hour-long path if you wish.

my route

I start out on Laprida Street (see yellow burst), head toward French, then over a few blocks on Pacheco de Melo to Austria Street and on to Sanchez de Bustamante. From there I head toward the green along Figueroa Alcorta and Ave. Liberator.

Along the route I pass some lovely flower kiosks, and am never disappointed to see the enormous and beautiful Ombú bushes with their interesting and quite extensive network of roots. A species of evergreen, ombús can grow quite large and provide delightful shaded areas to sit, rest, and contemplate life.

I’ve seen too many “ghost bikes” in Chicago marking spots where cyclists were killed by passing vehicles, and I continue to be surprised by the amount of markers embedded along the streets like these rectangular memorials to some of the 30,000 disappeared during the dirty war. One reads: “Here lived Arcangel “Cacho” Herrera and Hilda Marcia Paz, popular activists detained and disappeared by the state terrorism. Neighborhoods in memory and justice.” Two appear side-by-side, in memory of seven young people from Austria and various provinces in Argentina, who were also disappeared. Memory is alive in this country!

On Agüero Street I pass a park alongside the National Library and pause to snap photos of this “lover’s spot” where couples promise undying love with locks attached to wrought iron window bars and am amused by the life-size sculptures of Evita and Juan Peron and their dog seated on a park bench. Only the angle of the morning sun prevents me from taking a selfie alongside them.Continuing my walk along Avenida Libertador, I ascend the steps of the Faculty de Derechos (Law School pictured above) and continue on to the Paseo Ruben Dario and the Plaza Francia near the Buenos Aires Design Mall (with the famous Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar, a 17th century Jesuit church and the 2nd oldest building in the country, in the center background).

Passing a few runners and others out walking or cycling is a constant, but Saturdays and Sundays bring out many more locals and tourists alike, enjoying the same open green spaces as I do. There is a lot of city to walk, but it’s the greenery that brings me to this “route”. Enjoying this outdoor gallery of murals along Pacheco de Melo Street is definitely a visually exciting way for me to start each day! The quantity and diversity of public art murals along my walk just beg me to photo them. I can’t resist so I hope you’ll enjoy my sharing them with you. Many are 2013 artists’ interpretations of various sites throughout the city. Enjoy viewing them here and plan to come see them in person!

My weeklong solo trip to northwest Argentina was a cultural odyssey, a quite different Spanish colonial architecture and more laid back lifestyle than the more hectic, urban pace and European architecture of Buenos Aires. The language and accent remained Argentinian, but there were many differences in food, clothing, architecture, natural diversity of mountains and valleys, music, the cities and provinces of Salta and Jujuy (Hu-hu-y). These differences shaped my time there into a beautiful week and another possible destination to invite American travelers to add to their list of “Places to see in Argentina (with me as your guide, of course). So rich was my week that I will write about each destination in a separate post. This post focuses on “la vida Salteña” and in the following post I write about my time visiting Jujuy and the towns along the “Quebrada de Humahuaca” (The Humahuaca Ravine).

The painter’s palette

For years I’ve wanted to travel to both places to see these colonial cities and the glorious Andes mountains, valleys and gulches that surround them. My route took me via a 2-1/2 hour airplane ride from Buenos Aires to Salta, where I spent three days/nights roaming and touring the city proper and the fascinating formations of the Quebrada de las Conchas (The Seashell Ravine), an 80 mile stretch of the Andes mountains and gulches best travelled by car (but walkable in places). Along the route our small tour group of 6 stopped to enjoy various rock formations, such as El Anfiteatro, created by the forces of water and erosion over centuries to form a natural “bowl”. Argentine folksinger Mercedes Sosa once gave a concert on this beautiful site with its amazing natural acoustics. The day we stopped a lone musician played his flute and it was as if the heavens were welcoming us to sit and receive this beautiful gift of music he and nature created in partnership.

Our midday destination was the city of Cafayate (5,500 ft. above sea level), with its boutique vineyards and wineries, where tastings of the area’s specialty, the white Torrontés wine, are offered daily. Taking a respite from the group I enjoyed a solitary lunch of empanadas Salteñas at La Casa de las Empanadas. Empanadas abound in Argentina, but each province has its distinctive way of preparing them and among the most famous are the varieties of empanadas in the Salta province. They were delicious. Other regional foods I sampled while in Salta and Jujuy included tamales, humitas (made with corn kernels, sautéed onions, spices and goat cheese, wrapped in corn husks), guisos (stews), locro (a special type of meat and vegetable stew commonly eaten during the winter months), and llama (yes, llama the animal!). These are typical regional foods that make up what’s called “la comida andina” (food from the Andes region). Of course this is Argentina, so alongside these regional dishes one could always indulge in parrillas that specialize in grilling meats and, everywhere I travelled, of course, wonderful Malbec wines were inexpensive and delicious! My favorite was llama steak, accompanied by rice and a glass of Malbec, and followed by a dessert of goat cheese, honey and walnuts. Yum! How I wished I had a chance to buy some of the “salame de llama” I saw advertised later during a lunch stop in Purmamarca, Jujuy.

Salame made with llama meat, in Purnamarca, Jujuy, AR

But when I returned to enter the shop I learned it was closed so the owner could go see his son play futbol.

The city of Salta itself is quite the vacation spot for travelers world-wide.With colonial architecture typical of the 17th and 18th centuries, Salta is known as “Salta La Linda” (Salta the beautiful) and it lived up to its name. An easily walkable city center encapsuled by the Cabildo (government house), Cathedral and an interesting archeological museum, Salta is home to many boutique hotels, like the 5-star hotel Villa Vicuña where I stayed for three nights, three blocks from the center of the city. There I was able to sign up the same day for a delightful 4 hr. tour of the city and surrounding areas. I spent one full day with a group of six others touring the Quebrada de las Conchases itself, a day of beautiful vistas that resemble the southwest US, with its cactus, hills and red rock expanses filling my sights and soul.

And goats!

<I saw goats, sheep, horses, cows, some llamas and their cousins the vicuñas and the alpacas, along the colorful route Hwy 68.

The province of Salta in northern Argentina resembles Bolivia, I was told, and people in native dress walked alongside urbanites dressed in the style of the day, some speaking in the original indigenous language called Quechua, and can still be heard in smaller villages and towns. The city of Salta is also home to folkloric music in settings known as “peñas,” with singers and dancers costumed in the gaucho tradition.

Una Peña at El Viejo Estación

Many “penas” offer a dinner/show combination, where busloads of tourists are welcomed daily. Visiting a peña is a must-do nighttime activity in Salta for tourists and locals alike. If only my nearest companions hadn’t talked throughout the rousing performance I might have enjoyed the peña I visited even more! Oh well, the next day I’d be off to the city/province of Jujuy, and new Argentinian travel adventures. I enjoyed travelling alone, I discovered, although I did miss having someone to share the “moments” of each day, like when I happened upon little children all dressed up, passing out mini-flags to commemorate the Dia de la revolución de Mayo (May 25), or taught one of the others on my tour group how to take pictures with her new ipad.

The sites to see in Buenos Aires remain basically the same, but yet each tour I give turns out to be a unique experience for a variety of reasons: time, local special events, and new places to visit, eat, enjoy! Such was definitely the case when Kathy P visited Buenos Aries for 11 days in March. It was Kathy’s first visit to South America,

Shopping. Old San Telmo Market

and to Buenos Aires in particular, so it called for the basic tourist highlights: a bus tour of the city, the Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires (MALBA), the Museo Evita, touring the famous Recoleta Cemetery, a day trip to Tigre, the Delta, another to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay and yet another to a unique feria just outside the city, the Feria de Mataderos. We were fortunate, too to attend some very special events: a live Joan Baez concert at Teatro Gran Rex, a tour of Teatro Colon Opera House with time to sit in on an orchestral rehearsal session. And frequently throughout Kathy’s 11 day visit, we enjoyed music, music,

AfroCultural Center drumming workshop

music, tango in the theatre and in the neighborhood.

Tango dancers. Esquina Homero Manzi

Tango. Esquina Homero Manzi

The weather: late summer, early fall, with daytime highs in the low to mid 70’s, except for one day with afternoon and overnight rain. Sunny, blue skies with low humidity, a plus for visiting Buenos Aires late summer to early fall.

Having a travel-conscious traveler like Kathy here was wonderful as she continually gave me feedback about those events she thought were “must-do’s” for all my tour guests. Visiting the Feria de Mataderos was one of those.

On Sundays from March through December, there are two adjacent arts and crafts fairs, one in the park of Nueva Chicago (no kidding, that’s really the name of the place) and the other in the Feria de Mataderos itself, where the culture of Northern Argentina shapes the arts and crafts, foods, music, lots of dancing, singing, and a gaucho skill riding “sortija” competition on display. Our lunch consisted of a “choripan” (what we know as a sausage sandwich on good French bread) cooked on the parrilla (barbecue grill), accompanied by your beverage of choice and papas frítas (French fries) for less than $8 per person.

Another of Kathy’s “musts” was to rent a vehicle to tour Colonia in style. And so we did!

Our “ride” in Colonia

Though a little noisier than a golf cart, our jeep cost us about $35 for the full day, and was easy to drive around the town, stopping at the now defunct Plaza de Toros (bullfighting ring) for a few photos,

Inside the Plaza de Toros

My kind of bull

or at the swanky Sheridan Golf Resort and Hotel at the end of the river road to peek in at the lifestyles of the rich and well, rich, and naturally to use the bathrooms, check out the outrageous prices on their menus and head back to our jeep for the duration. Returning back to the center of this World Heritage town, we walked the plaza in the historic old part of town, enjoyed seeing the fun wares in some local boutique shops, climbed the lighthouse (well almost all the way to the top, I confess!) to see all of the city surrounding us, and stopped for quite a while taking in the newly created public art murals painted on the outside of the soccer stadium wall there

2013 mural series. Colonia

2013 stadium mural. Colonia

Political commentary abounds in Buenos Aires including here,

Protesting Monsanto. San Telmo

on the column of a newly restored historic building in San Telmo where protesters spray painted their message to Monsanto and passers-by like we were one Sunday morning. Two of the more moving political moments we shared during Kathy’s visit took place one afternoon at the Plaza de Mayo. There we witnessed the silent procession of the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Disappeared, who have met and walked here every Thursday afternoon for the past 37 years, beginning as a new form of social protest during the Dirty War (1976-83) and continuing through today. Sharing the plaza that Thursday was an exhibit created by the 9th Conference of Women Bank Workers to protest discrimination against women.

Exhibition protesting discrimination against women

The contrast between the white headscarves of the Madres, chosen to represent the diapers of their babies kidnapped and disappeared by the military dictatorship during the dirty war years,

Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo

alongside the pairs of bright red women’s shoes standing in silent contemporary witness against violence to women was moving. These two diverse groups of Argentinian women will take the stage in my next post.
Great weather formed the background for our March touring, and except for one rainy afternoon and evening, we enjoyed sunshine and temperatures from 70-80 degrees, the usual early March fare here. In other words—an ideal time to visit for those north Americans who don’t want summer’s heat but do want to escape the brutal winters in the Midwest and beyond.

Much sightseeing, eating, drinking, listening to music, enjoying the dancers and doing it all inexpensively were definitely the highlights of Kathy’s trip. As was watching the Mothers of the Disappeared present their symbolic white headscarf to Joan Baez at her concert (she was literally moved to tears!), spending a few hours enjoying every piece of the exhibition of the Argentinian painter-mystic Xul Solar

Museo Xul Solar

just a few blocks away from my apartment, and the art deco and art Nuevo on the streets and in the cafés, well, it’s quite something to experience.

Folkloric music from northern Argentina

Come see for yourself. I’m accepting reservations now on a limited basis for my personalized tours of Buenos Aires and beyond in 2015 (January through June). Don’t wait too long to visit the Paris of South America! I’ll show you a good time, no doubt.

What is essential is invisible to the eye. from The Little Prince. 2013 Mural detail. Colonia

“If you can,” Susana wrote, “come to Montevideo this weekend for the fiesta.” She didn’t tell me the “fiesta” would actually be that of Carnaval, the largest celebration of the rich, fascinating annual African-Uruguayan cultural tradition known as El Candombe, or Desfile (Parade) de Las Llamadas.

Second only to the annual event held each February in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Carnaval Montevideo is celebrated and seen world-wide via live TV coverage and if you are lucky enough to purchase a seat along the route, to be there in person for this dynamic event. The parade took place over two nights, with 42 distinct comparsa groups, a total of more than 3,000 elaborately costumed performers–men, women and children–parading along a 12-block street route, lined by crowds of people like us, sitting, drinking, eating, laughing and taking photos of all the beautifully costumed participants and their elaborate facial make up.

The parade is both celebration and competition, as there are monetary prizes awarded to the best performer in each category. Standard characters include the escobero, a man who walks and juggles a broom, two classic Mama Viejas (old mothers), flag bearers (portabanderos) whipping around large, colorful banderas, the vedette (star dancer), a large half moon and two stars carried high on large sticks, and the many other beautiful dancers followed by a band of at least 40 or more musicians playing their tambores (drums), creating vibrant rhythms that get even the most reluctant feet tapping and bodies swaying along with them.

There are at least 100 performers in each comparsa, sometimes more, each adorned in the specific colors of their group, with elaborate costumes and matching make-up, smiling and dancing and beating their tambores. Take a look, see the dancers and others, listen to the tamboriles striking their drums, and you might even start clapping as we onlookers did, singing out the names of the different comparsas, like “Elumbe”, Susana’s favorite:

The trip from Buenos Aires to Montevideo is an easy one. Three hours by ferry or, in my case, I chose the quick 1 hr. ferry to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguary where I spent a day visiting dear friends in their country home, then I rode the bus to Montevideo, 2-1/2 hr journey in an air conditioned, comfortable bus with free wifi access. In addition to going to the Carnaval parade on its final evening, I spent the weekend with friends

exploring Montevideo:

the famous Rambla that spans the coastline of the Rio de la Plata, the government buildings in the city center, the Teatro Solis, and the whole area where we strolled alongside arts and crafts vendors and enjoyed lunch

at the old Mercado del Puerto, stopping for artesanal ice cream in a lovely little plaza,

Want to gain 4 hrs of daylight and 70-80 degrees? Come let me guide your visit to Buenos Aires in 2014. I can’t think of a better winter getaway than to fly down to summer for awhile. Let the cold and snow melt away to long, sunny days and enchanted evenings as you enjoy the culture, food, sights and people of this South American wonderland. Let me help you plan your visit, or even become your personal BA tour guide and translator.

Ride the train to Tigre, the delta and have lunch as you cruise the channel between Argentina and Uruguay, learning about the ecology of this unique environment with guides who navigate the channels and know all the spots to see. Summer weekends bring everyone to the artesan´s ferias in Recoleta and San Telmo, and local murgas and marches with drummers and dancers in costumes winding through the streets of San Telmo and La Boca.

Symbol of the Mothers of the Disappeared, Plaza de Mayo

I can help make your reservations, be your translator, and take you every place you want to see, including those spots where locals go to eat, drink, and spend time with friends.

Interested in seeing more than BA? Iguazú Falls is a plane ride away. A 1-hr ferry boat ride can take us across the River Plate to Uruguay for a day of walking and browsing in Colonia del Sacramento, a Unesco World Heritage site. Walk in silent memory and protest with the mothers and the grandmothers of the disappeared every Thursday in the Plaza de Mayo. A day or two at a nearby estancia (ranch) will show you what the gauchos’ world is like. Wine lovers might want to fly up to the northwest wine capital, Mendoza, to sample Argentinian wines, or fly from BA to destinations throughout South America, including the wine country in Mendoza, Iguazu Falls, Bariloche in the Andes where you can ski all year round. Or head north towards the equator and tour the provinces of Salta or Jujuy.

Let’s plan your 2014 dream vacation to Argentina together! Hope to welcome you to my winter/summer home in Buenos Aires. And please spread the word. The sun sets at 8:10pm now, so lighten up your days in Buenos Aires.

What will we do during our two weeks in Buenos Aires? My friends had lots of ideas, and so did I. How to plan a rich 2-week experience of El Sur was my challenge when four dear friends travelled to Buenos Aires and Iguazú Falls, Argentina in February 2013 (summer in BA!). They wanted to see and do all that was possible, so that’s the trip we planned.

Housing, Air Travel Reservations
In advance of the trip, we searched online for suitable housing that met all their criteria (3 bedrooms, internet access, air conditioning, in the Recoleta neighborhood) and I located one that did exactly that—and just a block away from my own apartment there. I recommended a travel agent to them who assisted with their flight arrangements to Buenos Aires as well as a hotel stay and tour for their 2-day side trip north to see Iguazú Falls, a marvelous natural wonderland of 200 waterfalls, good hiking and lush vegetation at the border with Brazil.

Personalized
And for the entire two weeks of their South American vacation we enjoyed Buenos Aires as few tourists usually do. Not only did we visit all the typical tourist sites including excellent museums, outdoor weekend arts and crafts fairs, see a traditional tango show, but we also visited with my growing community of Argentinian friends, enjoying one another at the outdoor weekly tango concert/dance in Parque Patricios, friends’ lovely country house in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, where we discussed everything from local foods to film, politics, Argentine history and so much more!

Museums, food, music
In all, we saw exhibits at five museums, including the Museo de Belles Artes (Museum of Fine Arts), MALBA–Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires, the Evita Museum, Museo Casa Carlos Gardel, Fundación Próa, and the newest, the Museo del Bicentenario, around the corner from the Casa Rosada.

While their apartment had a full kitchen, the travelers preferred to sample from Buenos Aires’ many excellent restaurants and to sample lots of local specialty foods. We had the best grilled meat in the city, at the famous parrilla restaurant La Cabrera, enjoyed artisanal ice cream at Freddo’s (more than once), enjoyed empanadas and pizzas at Puntopizza, down the street from their apartment. Also close to “home” they enjoyed great sandwiches and salads at the local restaurants Delicious, Como en Casa, and Nuestros Sabores (wonderful risottos too). We visited the famous Cafe Tortoni and Las Violetas for late day cocktails and appetizers,

snacks, Las Violetas

tried the picada meat/cheese/olives-and-more sampler and beers at my favorite, Bar de Cao.

Music in Buenos Aires was high on everyone’s list, and whether unplanned, like the solo bandoneon player who entertained us at El Ateneo Bookstore, and the weekly local tango dancing in Parque Patricios,

Tango, Parque Patricios]

or planned, we saw the professional show of tango dancing, singing and music at Piazzolla Tango, the folkloric music of northern Argentina we shared at La Peña del Colorado and lastly the Lopez Ruiz Jazz Quartet at the jazz club Notorius.

Navigating BA
Our group of five travelled by boat,

Seeing the falls close up

buses, cars, taxis, plans, ferries and miles on foot. We went on guided tours of the Recoleta Cemetery, a city-sponsored bus tour of Buenos Aires, a driving tour of the San Telmo and La Boca neighborhoods, and the most expensive, a wonderful tour of the famous opera house the Teatro Colon. We scoured two weekend outdoor arts ferias in Recoleta and San Telmo. I wasn’t the only guide on the trip, either. I was delighted the evening Larra led us the La Cumaná restaurant, where we had a delicious dinner of food local to northern Argentina.

And more food and wine
Other Argentine gastronomy we had included: artesan ice cream (gelato), máte, medialunas and facturas, lots and lots of delicious Malbec, coffee, local beers, chivito sandwiches and Josefina’s homemade Pia nóno in Uruguay, fresh pastas and excellent risottos. Incredibly good grass fed, hormone-free beef and chorizos, along with cheeses, olives and artesanal breads. What’s not to like?

Ahh!
The trip, like most, presented us with its share of challenges. We thankfully escaped the bus thief who tried to steal Jacqui’s camera, but not the couple who got away with Donna’s purse (camera and $) on the final day of the trip. Kathleen survived her bee sting with a visit to the hospital emergency room, and everyone, me included, learned so much about ourselves as well as the marvelous city of Buenos Aires. Era un gran exito! (It was a great success!)

I’ve taken to carrying my camera with me whenever I’m outdoors in Buenos Aires so I can take pictures of interesting, creative, and unusual images and experiences. Along my travels I’ve taken photos of lots of graffiti or street art. Two distinctly different types of street art have surfaced in my collection, political and non-political or more decorative works. I’ve come across both types throughout the city, the nearby suburb of Quilmes, and across the Rio de la Plata in Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay, and in BA’s barrios, including Boedo, San Telmo, La Boca, Barrio Chino, and Parque Patricios. Colorful, abstract and concrete, these include some samples of traditional tagging, along with others where the street artists make the brick walls and doors their (and our) canvases. Scroll over the slideshows to pause, advance or return back to a previous photo.

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The political graffiti reflects local and universal themes of peace not war; celebrating public education; free, legal and safe abortions; the power of the community; demands of justice for the Once train wreck tragedy of February, 2012 in which 51 people died, and “Justice, justice, justice” in the city of Ushuaia at the very southern tip of the south American continent.

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Some street art keeps alive the symbols and memories of the painful dictatorship Argentina suffered during the Dirty War (1973-81) when injustice thrived and the young, the activists, and children were taken from their homes, tortured, traded, or thrown into the river to their death.

One such symbol of the justice seekers is the white head scarves of the Mothers de la Desaparecidos, the Mothers of the Disappeared, who marched and still march each week in silent protest to honor the more than 30, 000 Argentines, young and old, who were murdered by the terrorist state, military-led government.

A moving tile-inlaid square of glass and concrete sculpture along a San Telmo sidewalk keeps live the memory of local activist Guiller Moler, who was disappeared and detained by the military on June 24, 1978. “Neighborhood, memory and justice,” is written.

Children’s rights are everyone’s responsibility.

These stenciled busts of Eva Peron and President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner line the pavement outside the famous Pink House, the Casa Rosada.

Demanding justice for those responsible for the negligence that led to the Feb. 2012 train derailment tragedy at the Once train station, at a march on the 1-yr anniversary of the Once tragedy.

These photos are just the tip of the graffiti iceberg, so to speak. A group of street artists and activists who are a part of graffitimundo.com (graffiti world) have been creating and showcasing various examples of murals and street art they’ve found all over the city. Committed to documenting the origins of the graffiti and street art scenes in Buenos Aires, they are in the process of completing work on a feature length documentary entitled “White Walls Say Nothing”. They also offer bike tours of BA street art, indoor exhibitions in pop-up spaces in London, Washington, DC. Having learned about them just as I was leaving Buenos Aires this summer, I have yet to take one of their walking or biking tours, but they will certainly be part of my BA agenda for 2014! Follow my blog to get the latest updates.

Stay tuned for my next post on what your 2-week visit to Buenos Aires might look like. See what four friends and I did during their visit to Argentina in February of 2013!